By MARK DAVIS

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/02/07

Gasper. Ralph. Norton. And now, Marina.

Marina the beluga whale died Saturday morning, held close by people who had
tried to help her in those final hours. She'd stopped eating about two weeks ago
and became so disoriented that she hurt her snout while swimming. She had
ulcers. Her helpers wept as Marina's heart
sounded its final beats.

In death, her name is added to the inventory of large swimmers that have
succumbed at the Georgia Aquarium this year.

Gasper, another beluga, died in January. Whale sharks Ralph and Norton
followed  Ralph, also in January, and Norton in June. Aquarium officials now
say the whale sharks' deaths may have arisen from an "honest mistake"
 the addition of a chemical that might have impaired their nervous systems.

The four deaths resurrect the simmering disagreement between those who see
the value of having animals on display and people opposed to zoos, aquariums or
any facility that keeps animals in exhibits.

Marina's death, said an official with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA),
was unfortunate  and inevitable. At 25, she was an older beluga, and may not
have lived that long in the wild. "Nature," he said, "isn't
pretty."

Nor is keeping a whale in a tank, responded an activist with the Whale and
Dolphin Conservation Society. "The quality of that whale's life," she
said, "was deprived."

In the middle is the Georgia Aquarium, which just celebrated its second
anniversary and has enjoyed blockbuster crowds since opening in November 2005.
It has been two years of highs  the arrival of whale sharks, the birth of
zebra sharks, 6 million visitors, among other signature moments  and lows 
veterinarians have now conducted four necropsies on the bottom floor of the
world's largest fish tank.

Aquarium president and CEO Jeff Swanagan said he anticipated those
necropsies, or animal autopsies.

"You just have to accept that," he said. "These things are to
be expected."

Four high-profile deaths in a year?

That, he said, might have been unexpected.

Stress or safety?

Delphinapterus leucas are social animals. White and graceful, they form
communities in seas atop the world. They move in pods, relying on a natural
sonar system to navigate waters silvered by glacial runoff. An estimated 200,000
live in the wild, with about 200 on display across the world. Some scientists
say they live to be 35 in the wild, while others think the lifespan is greater.

Biologist Courtney Vail, a U.S. campaign officer for the Whale and Dolphin
Conservation Society, thinks the captive belugas don't enjoy the qualify of life
as their free-swimming peers. Wild-born whales taken for displays miss their
fellow travelers, Vail said.

"When you put them in a tank, you take them out of their
communities," said Vail, who also is a lawyer. "Stress is certainly a
factor in their long-term lives in captivity."

Marina's ulcers, she said, may have been proof of that stress. "She was
isolated for our enjoyment," Vail said.

Paul Boyle, a vice president for conservation with the AZA, disagrees.
Marina, he said, enjoyed a privileged life  regular feedings, safety from
predators and perpetual care. She also was an ambassador for an entire species,
introducing millions of humans to marine mammals, he said.

"Nobody works harder to keep animals safe and happy as [zoos and
aquariums] do," Boyle said. "Life in the wild is full of peril."

Life at an aquarium or zoo isn't guaranteed, Swanagan added.

"It's the cycle of life," said Swanagan, warming to a theme he's
used before. "You have births. You have deaths."

'Wonderful animal'

Marina weighed as much as a mature Holstein cow. She was as round as culvert,
the length of a rowboat  12 feet from her wedged tail to the tip of her
bulbous nose. Marina appeared to smile, a trait belugas share. Watching her swim
from around the corner of her rocky enclosure was like witnessing a happy genie
emerge from a bottle.

Marina came from the Wildlife Conservation Society's New York Aquarium,
arriving in November 2005. "She was a wonderful animal," that aquarium
said in a statement Saturday.

With Marina were females Natasha and Maris. Waiting for the trio were Nico
and Gasper, who came from a Mexican amusement park. Aquarium officials placed
the five in Arctic Quest, a rock-lined tank where the water is always about 55
degrees Fahrenheit.

Thus began the aquarium's own quest: to create a calf, a baby beluga. Since
then, say aquarium officials, Nico has frequently mated with Maris, the youngest
at 13. Natasha is the oldest, 28.

Gasper had a bone disease, and never mated. The aquarium euthanized him in
January after determining that he would not recover from his affliction. They
ended his life quietly, with tears and recollections of the whale who waved his
flippers at visitors.

"They want to know what she died of," said John Doiron, an employee
hosting the beluga exhibit. "I tell them we don't know yet."

Kennesaw mom Margie Cundy decided to keep news of Marina's death quiet. Her
son Ross was celebrating his seventh birthday, and she didn't want to spoil his
fun.

"I didn't mention that to my children because I didn't think they needed
to know," she said.

Births, deaths

Ralph and Norton were majestic animals, too. They'd come from Taiwan,
transported across the world to a tank built specifically for Rhincondon typus,
the world's largest fish. They debuted amid gasps, and small wonder. How many
people had ever seen a fish longer than a stretch limo?

But something went wrong, and both fish stopped eating, prompting the
aquarium to feed each with a tube. Swanagan now thinks the aquarium may have
harmed the sharks' nervous systems with a chemical treatment for the tank's
water. Ralph died in January, days after Gasper was euthanized. Norton lasted
for six more months until the aquarium euthanized him in June.

The chemical treatment, said Swanagan, "was an honest mistake."

Now, Swanagan said, he wants aquarium employees to remember Marina, while
keeping in mind they still have hundreds of species in their care.

"You want to have births and births and births," he said. "But
you have to deal with the deaths at some point."

The aquarium, he said, is ready for a few more births, a few less deaths.